Carshigii Jamaalka She

Carshigii Jamaalka

Ma cawaa ma caanaa
Ma ciirtaa ma calaf baa
Ma cuq baa ma cigashaa
Ma cisaa ma culuq baa
Ma daruur gu' curatoo
Cir caddaad an noqon baa
Ma cigaalka feleggiyo
Cirjiidkii mariiqaa
Ma magool cusayb baa
Ma cadceed arooryoo
Falaadhaha casuustaleh
Ku cabsiisay dheeggoo
Ceeryaantii didisaa
Ma xareed is celisaa
Ma habeen cadda ah oo
Balliyada cigaagani
Casuumeen xiddigahoo
Sida camal muraayad ah
Cirka dayaxi kaa jiray
Dhulka kaa cawaray baa
Cosob rayska xaadhiyo
Ma gargoorkii ceegoo
Calyayada barkaday baa
 
Alla sama cuddoonaa
Udugaa carfoonaa
Samsam caynka loo dhigay
Citibaaro badanaa
Calle ma aha liiti ah
Habac maaha ceebaleh
Qallef maaha camal ba'an
Coon maaha loo hoyan
Baali maaha caaryaleh
Cirir maaha toomama
Cawro maaha socod badan
Cayil maaha laga dido
Caatana u may bixin
Cid kastaba u geeyoo
Meel laga canaantiyo
Cillad loo ma heli karo
Cabdiyow tallaabada
Cutiyaan idhaahdaa
Timahay caweyskii
Cirifyada u saartee
Ku cayaara leydhee
Haldhaayaduna cawryaan
Indhaheeda cawsha ah
Mus cideedka midabka ah
Sanqadhoodhka caynaba
Timaheeda culayga ah
Ciridkeeda dhuxusha ah
Ilkahaa caddaanka ah
Camankeeda xaaddaleh
Dhexda caara dhuubta ah
Cududaha garaaraha
Kubabkay u culustahay
Cambarshaha sudhkeeday
Firirsheen cabbaaryadu
Waa Xuur al-Caynoo
Kolba anigu tin iyo cidhib
Cad aan quudho kuma arag
Cagfudayd u may dhalan
Cadho lagu ma sheegeyn
Waa canaadi lama odhan
Carrabkeedu beentiyo
Ma yaqaano caydaba
Wax ka cawda maan maqal
Ma cod dheera waa gabadh
Xishood baa u caado ah
Cimri waa u gaban weli
Caqli waa u waayeel
Cidhib baanay leedahay
 
Aniguna ma caasiyo
Cadraddii ammaan lehe
Carshigii jamaalkaan
U caleemo saaraye
Adna cadar Hadraawow
Hambalyada u soo curi
 

She

Is she milk, is she more, is she buttermilk?
Is she bread, is she bread and milk, is she?
Would you say she's good luck? Would you say
She's a riddle, or maybe the answer?
Is she kindness or thought when it's solemn?
Is she thought, is she more - an idea?
 
Is she clouds that give rain, clouds that gather,
Clouds that bless, clouds that crowd, clouds that linger?
Would you say she's good luck, would you say
She's the pattern of stars struck at nightfall
When the day will bring cloudwrack and rainfall?
 
Would you say she's green growth in the rainfall?
Would you say she's the sun in the morning
That soaks up the dew, that disperses
The mist? Is she water that gathers
In pools after rain? Is she moonlight
Reflected in pools? Is she starlight
So bright when it floods with the moonlight
That you're blind to the land that you stand on?
 
Would you say she's green growth that the rainfall
Has washed and made sweet? Is she water
That lies on the land like a blessing?
Is she herself sweet, is she shapely?
Is her sweetness the perfume of water?
 
Is she beautiful, thoughtful and clever?
Does she live as she should? Does she honour
The qualities womanhood stands for?
 
You can see she's not weak and not foolish;
You can see she's not lazy and sluttish,
Not stubborn or sloppy or rowdy,
Neither a shrew nor a nag, she's
A woman who keeps a full larder,
A woman who'd greet you and feed you.
 
She's the lie of the stars that brings rainfall,
Not the set of the stars that brings drought to
The lie of the land that you stand on.
 
She's not fat, she's not thin, she is perfect.
She is modest - she dresses discreetly -
But it's clear that her body is perfect.
 
Oh, Cabdi, you see her as I do -
The way that she sways as she walks is
The reason I call her Catiya,
Catiya, whose walk is a rhythm
That chimes with my heart when I see her.
 
In the evening, she brushes her hair from
The crown to the tip and the breeze lifts
Each strand, so the eyes of the young men
Follow the stroke and the windblown
Hair as it catches the last of
The sun as it sets and makes firebrands,
Black but shot through with the sunset.
 
The colour of Catiya's skin is
The colour that all women envy.
Her eyes, soft and brown, are the eyes of
The desert gazelle, while her nose is
Perfectly straight and her gums are
Black, black as charcoal. Oh, Cabdi,
The white of her teeth and the down on
Her cheek! Can you see how her waistline
Is curved like a spear; can you see how
Her arms make an elegant shape in
The air as she moves, how her calves flex,
How her neck, with its dapple of amber,
Lightly creases: the neck of a Houri.
 
There is nothing to fault in this woman,
Not a flaw to be found in her beauty.
She is never impatient or angry;
She never complains. Could you weary
Of a woman like that? She could never
Lie or be troublesome. No one
Ever spoke ill of this women:
Her soft speech, her quick mind, her modest
Way in the world - this young woman
Whose future, I know, will be brighter
By far than the star of the evening.
 
Oh, Cabdi, you see her as I do:
A child who is almost a woman,
In the very first flush of her beauty.
I praise her. I crown her with garlands.
Haadrawi, match my song with your song.
 

Carshigii Jamaalka

Is she good fortune? Is she milk?
Is she buttermilk? [here implying something you take as a surfeit] Is she daily sustenance?
Is she the question [in the riddle]? Is she the answer [to the riddle]?
Is she respect? Is she a weighty, thoughtful thing?
 
Is she clouds which have gathered together in the gu' season
and will not become a clear sky? [This refers to clouds gathering to give rain in the main rainy season showing that there is still more moisture in the sky to fall]
Is she a long throw [feleg bad luck; xiddigays]
Jupiter of/and Mars? [This is a reference to some astronomical occurrence which presumably predicts good rain.]
 
Is she fresh [plant] growth?
Is she the early morning sunlight
which, with the arrows of redness,
caused the dew to be afraid
and scattered the [early morning] mist?
 
Is she pure water which gathers together? [in pools after it has rained]
Is she a light [i.e. moonlit] night during which
the full pools
invited the stars and the sky, which is where the moon has come from (?)
[and] in the manner of a mirror
blinds you from the land?
Is she fresh growth cleaned by the water on the land [that has fallen as rain]
and the grass of Ceeg [we think this is a place name neither of us know this word nor can find it anywhere, needs further checking]
the clean water which has laid down? [the word used is one when you lay down to sleep]
 
My goodness! Is she proportionate; [in her character, stature and shape]
fragrance and perfume;
Samsam who has been put together in that way / put together in the way of Samsam? [cf. caynka here al-'ayn]
Is she great respect? [The grammar of these four lines is subtly different to the previous questions implying, I think, that the question is more rhetorical than the previous ones. An exclamation mark after respect in line 27 might be more appropriate.]
 
She is not a weak fool.
She is not a shameful, lazy person.
She is not a stubborn person of bad behaviour.
She is not a spinster no one goes to for hospitality.
She is not a mouldy bad wife.
She is not cirir stars which are months of 29 days. [in the Muslim lunar calendar [here he seems to be referring to an astronomical configuration during which no rain falls]
She is not [a woman showing her] private parts who walks around. [i.e. an immodest woman in dress]
She is not a fat woman from whom one flees.
And she has not grown thin.
Bring her to any person and
a place [on her] about which one complains and
a defect cannot be found.
O Cabdi! [Cabdi Qays a famous poet who had seen the woman with Hadraawi] The steps; [she takes; i.e. the way she walks]
I say "Cutiya". [i.e. I call her "Cutiya" a woman's name which means the one who walks elegantly]
 
In the evening she combs her [individual] hair[s]
to the end [i.e. to the end of each hair]
which the breeze plays with
and which the male ostriches [i.e. young men] give the eye to.
Her eyes which are those of the Soemmering's gazelle;
[She is] the colour of the mas-ciideed;[a brown coloured snake of which the colour is regarded as being that of the most beautiful skin tone]
the bridge of the nose: that of a black horse; [i.e. she has a very straight bridge to her nose]
her hair firebrands; [these are made from certain plants and are used in the countryside to clean out milk vessels; here the reference is to their black colour]
her gums charcoal; [black gums are a sign of beauty]
those teeth whiteness;
her cheeks with soft hair; [fine soft hair on the cheeks is a sign of beauty]
the waist [as thin as] the tip of a spear;
the upper arms showing elegant movement;
she is heavy in the calves;
the amber of her neck [a reference to the colour]
splits up into rolls. [having small rolls along the neck is a sign of beauty, not a double chin, just light creases]
She is a Houri.
Every time [I look] from head to toe
I do not see a part I [can] discriminate against.
 
She was not born to impatience.
Anger has not been attributed to her.
"She is a bothersome person/a pest" has not been said.
Her tongue does not know lies
or insults.
I have not heard anyone complaining about her.
She is not loud she is a girl / young woman.
Modesty is her custom.
In age she is still a child.
In intelligence she is a mature person.
And she has a bright future.
 
And I do not reject her.
And that praiseworthy unmarried woman
on the throne of beauty
I install with garlands of leaves [and flowers].
And you, Hadraawi, [cadar]
recite verses of congratulation for her!
 

Original Poem by

Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac ‘Gaarriye’

Translated by

Martin Orwin, Maxamed Xasan ‘Alto’ with David Harsent Language

Somali

Country

Somalia/Somaliland